So I´ve heard we are already in the second week of June!!!
I really can’t believe it and feel as though time is FLYING just as fast as all of the awesome airplanes that I get to see take off from Guayaquil. (For all those back home who don’t know this.... I have a lil hobby here in Ecuador.... every time I go from my home in Duran to the city Guayaquil I keep my eyes peeled for the next plane taking off from the airport.... I LOVE it!)
Anyways....
Like I´ve said before, please forgive me for my lack of communication. I get a bit overwhelmed when I think about how to share all of these amazing blessings that I encounter everyday here.
I will start with talking about:

My Last Retreat Group....Scranton University
So, today I dropped my last retreat group off at the airport. Despite being super tired from the lil more than a week of action we shared, when I got home from the airport I just couldn’t sleep. I had a great time with my Scranton group and our experience was filled with reminders of what a blessing this year has been and that it is coming to a close. Our time together and nightly reflections have left me with many beautiful things to think about and continue to reflect on. This week we had some great visits in the homes of neighbors sharing laughter and even tears. Many neighbors weren’t home for the group to visit so we visited a few people a second time and found our time shared to be very fruitful. I loved hearing my group talk about how great it was to get to go back and truly feel at home and comfortable as they talked with their new friends. We played memory with Victor and Jon at Pastoras while I worked on making my purse. (Yes, I am making a purse!!!!! Crochet??? I never thought there was any hope for me to learn such a thing, but Pastora is full of patience, so I have learned and actually LOVE doing it). We also had a great time talking with Soraya, about her experience of supporting her husband Wellington through his struggles with Hanson’s Disease. Hearing her explain how she wasn’t scared at all and saw this sickness as any other sickness and the way she reassured Wellington of her love for him during his difficulties helped me to better understand the love Wellington has for Soraya today. Later in the week I brought my group back over to their house to do a Zumba dance workout with Soraya. We all had a lot of fun. The week ended on a great note too. Our last afternoon together we witnessed Ecuador winning Argentina 2-0 in a qualifying game for the world cup. It was super Exciting!!!
Ok.... so I know that was a jumble of randomness but I guess I just hope that it helps to explain what a great experience I had with my last retreat group - Scranton. Thanks guys!!!

Yay for Vitamins!!!
Thanks to generous donations of people in the US we have been able to give vitamins out at our after school programs. We have been giving out vitamins for a bit over two months now and it has been super exciting for all of us. The kids LOVE getting vitamins and many of our kids at Valdivia have found a favorite flavor :) I remember mine were red and purple when I was lil!
Some of the vitamins are even extra special in that they come in the form of gummies. We give these out on the special days. So Thanks to everyone who so generously donated vitamins! It has been greatly appreciated!

Morning Walks and Talks
So for about three weeks now I have been getting up extra early and going on morning walks with Soraya. Soraya is one of my friends and neighbors who lives across the street and has three kids Kevin, Keiko and Natalia. Her husband Wellington is a guard at our house and is also a good friend of mine. (Wellington taught me how to make hammocks....don’t know if I mentioned that before) Soraya and I have been talking for quite some time about going out and walking for some exercise and I must say that it is exciting to finally have followed through with our plans! We try to make sure we go out at least 3 days a week but love it when we can get in more. I wake up at 6 and we head out at 615 and walk for about 1 hour. Then I come home and get ready for a day at work. This week with my retreat group being here I didn’t have to run off to catch a bus to go to work so I had more down time. I really enjoyed this because I made yummy fruit and milk shakes post walk. With all of the fun fruits and veggies here I love doing this....but it takes time so most mornings I don’t have time and just get a piece of bread from the bread store before I catch the bus.
So yay for walking!!!! And talking!